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The Real Jeb Bush and Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

As he moves towards what CNN’s Alexandra Jaffe called “a probable presidential run,” and what we call merely ticking the legal requirement of formally filing, Jeb Bush’s comments on amnesty and immigration, which were shared with CNN by Democratic tracking firm American Bridge, are certain to deepen his already developing disconnect with conservative grassroots Republican primary voters — as conservatives react in a mixture of bewilderment and eye-rolling when confronted with some of Bush's resurfaced lines on immigration.

In 2013, speaking to a friendly audience of Hispanic ethnic activists, Bush it was "ridiculous" to think that DREAMers, children brought to the U.S. by their parents illegally, shouldn't have an "accelerated path" to citizenship.

Other comments American Bridge gave Jaffe in its “oppo dump” included that Bush declared that "it's not possible in a free country to completely control the border without us losing our freedoms and liberties."

He even suggested the mayor of Detroit — the national symbol of the economically depressed Midwest Rust Belt — use immigration to "repopulate" the city.

He also praised the "courage" of Sen. Marco Rubio and Jeff Flake, two authors of the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill universally loathed by conservatives, telling the crowd to encourage the senators to "stay the course," reported Jaffe.

“Wow,” was the reaction of Brent Bozell, chairman of the conservative group ForAmerica and already a Jeb skeptic.

"That thinking is utterly contrary to what grassroots Republicans believe. He is reflecting the viewpoint of the Chamber of Commerce and big business," he said in comments to Jaffe.

Bush apologists, and those who merely figure they want to keep the door open to the notoriously long-memoried Bush organization, dismissed conservative concerns with Bush’s remarks by saying they were “well within the mainstream of the Republican Party.”

“Well within the mainstream” of the US Chamber of Commerce branch of the Republican Party located in the congressional office buildings, but hardly in the mainstream of thinking in the coffee shops, county GOP meetings and Twitterverse we inhabit.

What’s more, this isn’t ancient history or something he can, in the spirit of Mitt Romney, flip-flop on and get away with it, because he keeps repeating and expanding these out of touch – many conservatives would call them “Obama-like” – comments and pronouncements.

Earlier this week, when U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen issued an injunction prohibiting Obama from carrying out his unconstitutional “executive amnesty” most Republicans cheered, but not Jeb Bush.

Instead Bush said on his Facebook page, “The millions of families affected across the country deserve better. Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to work with Congress to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system.”

In our view, and in view of most of the conservatives we know, the only reason our immigration system is “broken” is because the past several presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, haven’t enforced it.

What does this mean for the nascent Jeb Bush for President campaign?

Hogan Gidley, a South Carolina Republican operative who's advised both Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum's presidential campaigns, told CNN’s Alexandra Jaffe in a bit of an understatement, "Those are definitely not helpful for Mr. Bush."

Gridley went on to observe that Bush will "have so much money that he can, possibly, overcome these types of things.” "But," he added, "it's going to take a lot of money to overcome some of these types of quotes."

Money can take you a long way in politics, it can even more or less buy you the nomination as it did Mitt Romney in 2012. But it only works if the other candidates let the big money candidate get away with it and refuse to draw a bright line on amnesty between themselves and Jeb Bush.

In the 2016 Republican Primary we don’t think money can nominate a candidate, like Jeb Bush, who fundamentally has the same position that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have on amnesty for illegal aliens -- if any of the other candidates will take a principled stand against amnesty and Jeb Bush's support for it.